ISLAMABAD: Salman Iqbal, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Pakistan's ARY news channel, on Friday called for an "independent investigation," overseen by the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Office, into the killing of prominent Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif in Kenya.
Sharif, a hugely popular talk show host, was killed on October 23 when the car he was in sped up and drove through a checkpoint outside the Kenyan capital and police opened fire. Nairobi police expressed regret over the incident, saying it was a case of “mistaken identity” during a search for a car involved in a child abduction case.
Pakistani military spokesman Lt General Babar Iftikhar on Thursday said the anchorman had left Pakistan on the instructions of the CEO of the TV channel he worked for and after a threat alert was issued by the provincial administration of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Pakistan's Interior Minister Rana said on Friday that all clues in the murder case pointed to Iqbal and former prime minister Imran Khan. Sharif, who of late had been a harsh critic of the incumbent government and the army, was believed to be a staunch supporter of Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.
In a statement on Friday, Iqbal accused the government of running a smear campaign against him and called the "wild and baseless allegations" a continuation of it.
"Let me say categorically that I had no involvement whatsoever in the gruesome act against my brother," the ARY CEO said on Twitter.
"I am calling for independent investigation overseen by the UN Human Rights Office."
He said he did not believe in the independence of the investigation being undertaken by the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. He said he would provide "full cooperation" for a UN-led probe into Sharif's killing.
Sharif left Pakistan in August after going into hiding in his own country in July to avoid arrest following a citizen’s complaint against him on allegations of maligning the country’s national institutions, a reference to the military. His whereabouts were not publicly known.
A month later, Sharif’s employer, the privately-owned ARY news channel, fired him, saying he had violated the TV station’s social media policy. His talk show Power Play was discontinued.
The TV channel had earlier in the year remained critical of PM Shehbaz following the ouster of his predecessor, Imran Khan, in a no-confidence vote in parliament in April. ARY and Sharif were widely considered to report in support of Khan and his party.
At a press conference on Thursday, the military spokesperson Gen Iftikhar showed screenshots of conversations between ARY director news Ammad Yousaf and CEO Iqbal, and said Sharif’s ticket to Dubai was officially booked by ARY and he left Pakistan from Peshawar, the capital of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province ruled by Khan's party, with the facilitation of provincial government officials.
The ticket was booked by an ARY official on August 9 from a travel agency in Karachi and the return date on the ticket was September 9. Sharif left for Dubai from Peshawar on August 10 via an Emirates flight, Iftikhar said.
Iqbal said they knew that the threats to Sharif's life were legitimate and the anchorman did not receive any assistance from the government despite repeated requests.
"Instead of receiving help, he was targeted with cases of sedition, multiple FIRs and arrest warrants," the ARY CEO said.
"As friends and colleagues, we stood by him and his choices, so following standard procedure our offices helped him with his travel plans."
Iqbal has been based in the UAE and US since at least July this year when his channel got embroiled in a scandal related to sedition charges over remarks aired on ARY that the media regulator said were tantamount to inciting mutiny within the army.
The death of Sharif, who was laid to rest in Islamabad on Thursday, has unleashed outrage among the public and media in Pakistan, and calls for a transparent investigation into the murder.
